Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-01-20
DURING WAR TIMES.
HOW THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE MAN.
AGED VARIOUS DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.


sugar-Home Made Head wear-Fans.
All planters were required by the Con-
federate government a tax or 1.-THE of
one-tenth Of all the grain or provisions
that was grown in the south, each town
or city having its granary where was car
ried the tenth of grain, bacon, rice, syrup.
and so on to be used for the support of
our army. In southern Alabama the
cultivating Of the cereals was n rare
thing before the war. think the same
will apply to most of the interior south
ern states. But the planters began in
earnest to grow corn, wheat, oats, rye
and peas. All moist places that had
hitherto been thought ut for naught were
put into rice and sugar cane patches,
and were found to yield plentifully.
Many farmers were surprised ut the great
yield of wheat. remember hearing one
man who lived in Troy, Alabama, tell of
highly fertilizing one acre Of common
pine upland as trial The result was
seventy-1ve bushels of wheat. Another
planter near Glennville, Alabama, cat
fifty bushels of wheat from one acre he
had enriched.
Of course there was some bother about
threshing the wheat. While some could
"thrashn and ''fan" at their gin houses,
there were those who would bide the
time for the travelling thrcsher to come
around. Others whose sowing and reap
ing was on small scale would maui the
wheat out with fails Of their own make.
One day we went to sec the threshing ar
rangement one woman, whose husband
and sons were in the army, had devised.
we found the room carpeted with sheets
and tapestried with coverlets, and the
woman seated in chair, with common
sized barrel before her. A sheaf of
wheat was in her hands and she was
pounding the grains Of wheat out over
the barrel. She would in this primitive
way fail as much as two or three bushels
and then spread the sheets on the ground
in the open air, the wheat being poured
on in a continuous stream. The wind
acted as the great fan and carried the
chaff lightly away. The wheat being
ground at some Touring mill would last
her quite a while. When used up the
same rude failing would be rcsortcd to-
Hundreds during the war threshcd in
the same primitive manner.
Mills had also to be erected for crush
ing the juice from the sugar cane.
sally used, as those of iron were scarcely
obtalnable during the war. While wooden
cylinders were net satisfactory, as all the
juice OF the cane could not be thoroughly
pressed from the crushed cane, the
farmers cheered themselves with the idea
that there was no geat loss, as the swine
could draw from it the leavings. The
furnaces for syrup and sugar boiling were
raised of rocks, if bricks were not con-
venient, though many small brickyards
were put in operation during the four
years of the war. Long wooden troughs,
followed from trees, were also indispen-
sable for pouring the syrup from the boil
ers to cool. The syrup was thick and
| clear. The sugar was unavoidably
| brown, as there was no means in the
| great stress of the times of clarifying it.
l have seen the planters work long
smooLh oak splits, cat thin from the top
to the bottom of the barrel filled with the
home made sugar, to aid the dripping and
to better free the sugar from moisture.
There was peasing and gratifed delight
among the planters when they had been
| successful in making their sugar very
| light and dry, and it not infrequently hap
| pened that on neighbor calling the first
thing after the conventional greeting
would be to bring forth small package Of
his make of sugar wrapped in brown
paper. Another industry of the south
that the eXigency of the times called up
was that of pottery, which if not food and
clothing, was quite serviceable. OF
course the earthenware then produced
was coarse and brown, the enamel with
which it was glazed would have caused a
smile of disdain, perhaps from the an
cient Etruscans, but ours was time Of
necessity, and there were events of more
moment to occupy the thoughts than
worry over the rough glazed earthenware.
There being no way Of getting hats or
bonnets, and those we had at the be-
ginning of the war becoming too much
worn for further renovating, other ex-
pedients for the head wear had to be de-
vized, and 1t was surprising the variety Of
material that could be used for hats, caps
and bonnets.
There was palmetto, wheat and oat
straw and corn husks. Even the long
leaved pines, when neatly braided, were
not to be scorned. We soon became quite
skilled in the the varied designs of pal
metto and straw braidings, which besides
making hats, was also used for making
baskets, fans and mats. Hats and caps
were made of cloth. The "bonnet
SQUASH" known by some as the "Spanish
dishrag," was grown by some for making
bonnets and hats. They were really
beautiful, appearing as q network of
gossamer. There were those who would
make the frame of the bonnet, then
cover with the down and small white
feathers of the goose, Larger feathers
were used for the trimmings, and they
were by no means rustic looking. We
also CLEANED knowledge of the ''willow
wickerwork," and baskets of many
shapes and sizes went forth of our make.
A neighbor, out Of the willow twigs,
woye the body for her babe's carriage.
We soon learned to make fans of the wing
feathers Of the geese. When the feathers
were mature we would pluck them, being
very careful In plucking to string the
feathers one by one as they were taken
out. All the right wing feathers were
placed on one string and the left wing
feathers on another string, so that when
we arranged the feathers for making the
fan each feather could be placed in its
proper place and would have the fitting
curve. We soon became quite skilled in
the art of making fans. Beside those for
home use we made and sold in the city
of Eufaula many fans for as much as $40
and $15 apiece made one for my
mother of the dark olive-green feathers
of the peafowl. The handle l covered
with a piece of dark-green silk velvet.
On either side where l had joined the
handle and feathers l placed rosette
l 1n nR A1NH orl1 -.